Staff of the Ghana Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana (MOWAG) have expressed their dissatisfaction with the poor working conditions.
According to them, there are many basic safety equipments needed in order to facilitate their work, however, these have not been provided by government, posing a health risk to them.
President of MOWAG, Edward Mensah Akpakudi, told Citi News they have appealed to authorities to come to their aid.
“In some of the places, sometimes we don’t have parazone or liquid soap…Now, in almost all the mortuaries, we are using the surgical gloves, which is what the doctors use. That one is too light and short.
“We are supposed to use the Nitrile gloves which is longer. With that one, even if the water splashes it won’t touch you. We end up using our own money to procure these things. Government is not doing anything about it and our facility managers are not doing anything to help us”.
Members of the Association also said they are mostly “unrecognised” and the least paid in the health sector.
Earlier this year, they resorted to a strike to draw government’s attention to their poor working conditions.
Up until June 2019, most mortuary workers were employed as casual workers receiving salary of only ¢250, falling way below the country’s minimum wage of ¢11.82 daily.